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SFF Literary History Literary History Sport
RF Kuang Katabasis Harper Voyager, 21st, £9.99, 9780008501907
Kuang’s literary fantasy follow-up to Yellowface tells of a glorious descent into hell in search of a salve to beat academic precarity. Cambridge postgraduate Alice Law needs professor Jacob Grimes to vouch for her – but he just so happens to be dead. When your field of study is “analytic magick”, these are occupational hazards. But, inconveniently, her biggest rival, Peter Murdoch, is going after him, too. Hell is hell, and it challenges their logic and cause as both characters are forced to consider whether academia is more soul-destroying than bad magic. “David Lodge with demons,” said the Guardian. An Amazon TV adaptation written by Angela Kang is forthcoming.
John Patrick McHugh Fun and Games 4th Estate, 7th, £9.99, 9780008517373
Teenager John comes of age on the west coast of Ireland, waiting for
exam results, starting a relationship with an older co-worker and spending his last summer on the small island where he has grown up. His ex-girlfriend once asked: “Do you ever listen to yourself, John?” But John thinks he listens to himself too much. The texts, clothing and dialogue all build the texture of place and time, and the sense that the summer cannot end, but must, with all its implications for the budding romance. “Warmth and sensitivity, and a skillful humour,” said the Guardian.
Lucy Noakes The People’s Victory: VE Day Through the Eyes of Those Who Were There Atlantic Books, 7th, £12.99, 9781838955151
Noakes gives us the words, views and experiences of Mass Observation diarists on the end of the Second World War in Europe, producing a unique portrait of the joint concerns and individual preoccupations of ordinary people at an extraordinary time in the nation’s history. It is fascinating to read the thoughts of ordinary citizens from diverse walks of life as they respond to mythologising as it happens. There are also celebrations that, despite rationing and privations, range from tea parties to bonfires, bell ringing to water fights and wagon rides.
Mariam Rahmani Liquid Penguin (Transworld), 14th, £9.99, 9781804997628
An unnamed postdoc is still single, and frustrated not
to have secured a full-time job or published her thesis as a book two years after receiving her PhD. So, she resolves to apply some of that career energy to her private life. Summer becomes a whirlwind of dates, with men and women, organised by spreadsheet. This is abruptly interrupted by unexpected and tragic news that takes her to Iran to reckon with family, her purpose in life and alternative ways to live. “A modern day Jane Austen,” said the Daily Mail.
Graham Robb The Discovery of Britain: An Accidental History Picador, 28th, £12.99, 9781035026135
Train cancellations caused by storm damage prompt a unique cycle journey home for Graham, and the seed of an idea for a highly readable new history of Britain, seen from the handlebars of a bicycle. At Preston station, armed with some ripped map pages, Robb plots a route on the fly, committing to the idea that without modern advice on traffic or local attitudes, “it is usually advisable to head for the past”. Old turnpike roads, stagecoach routes and Roman roads guide the way and provide the spark for a compelling journey through time and place, helping us understand Britain’s precarious history.
Felix White Whatever Will Be, Will Be: A Matter of Life and Football Cassell, 7th, £10.99, 9781788405607
Best known as a guitarist from The Maccabees, White writes vividly on a personal journey through the 2024-2025 Emirates FA Cup, from the first muddy preliminary round in Penrith to a sunny final at Wembley, considering how the traditions of the Cup foster memory, identity, grief and joy. White reflects on his delayed sense of grief for his mother’s death, felt after the breakup of The Maccabees, but he is a sensitive observer of others’ emotions and behaviour, too, from non-league stadiums with a range of warmth and hostility to the larger spectacles of big clubs in later rounds.
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KATE CLAYTON
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